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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. vm. AUG. 2, 1913.
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Notes on Books.
Covent Garden. By Reginald Jacobs. (Simpkin, Marshall & Co.)
We always welcome works on local history, and we see with pleasure that they are on the increase. Mr. Jacobs deserves our thanks for this chatty little book on the romance and history of Covent Garden parish, full as it is of political, literary, and theatrical associations; The first chapter tells how Covent Garden came into the possession of the Bedford family in 1552, when it was bestowed by letters patent on Lord Russell, first Earl of Bedford, together with seven acres of land, now known as Long Acre. The Earl built his town residence on his newly acquired property, on the site of the present Southampton Street.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century Covent Garden became an artistic centre. Sir Peter Lely lived in the angle of the Piazza now occupied by the Tavistock Hotel, and Kneller resided in a house on the site of the west end of the present Floral Hall; his garden adjoined that of the house in Bow Street in which lived Dr. Radcliffe. Sir James Thornhill afterwards occupied this house, where he opened a drawing class. Another artist, Wilson, had his studio in the Piazza. Zoffany, the theatrical portrait painter, was also a resident. At Cock's auction-rooms Hogarth exhibited his series of engravings 'Marriage & la Mode'; and these rooms were afterwards occupied by the well-known Robins. The house which is now the National Sporting Club has existed since 1636; like other houses in the parish it has been in turn the town residence of many persons of note. Among these was West, President of the Royal Society, whose collection of books and prints took six weeks to dispose of. It has been noted in more recent days as Evans's supper rooms.
Among the notables buried in the church, which stands facing the west entrance to the market, are Butler, author of 'Hudibras'; Lely, Wycherley, Dr. Arne, Grinling Gibbons, Mrs. Centliyre, Wolcot ("Peter Pindar"), and Macklin the comedian, who died in 1797. The tablet to his memory records his age as 107. Mr. Thoms, however, stated at 5 S. ii. 245 that the coffin-plate made him only 97, and he gave particulars as to the origin of the 107 story.
Russell Street is full of interesting associations. At its west corner was Will's Coffee-House, where Pepys "found Dryden, the poet I knew at Cambridge, and all the wits of the Town." On the other side of the street was Button's, which was appointed the receiving place for all contributions to Steele's Guardian. "For this purpose a lion's head was set up at the coffee-house, as a sort of pillar-box. It was taken from the antique Egyptian lion, and was designed by Hogarth." This lion's head was afterwards removed "to the 'Shakespeare Tavern' under the Piazza; in 1804 it was sold to Mr. Richardson, the proprietor of Richardson's Hotel, for 11l. 10s., and eventually purchased by the Duke of Bedford." At No. 17 Tom's was situated. "As in the case of Will's, only the upper portion of the premises was used as the coffee-house, the ground floor being occupied by Mr. T. Lewis, the bookseller, and original publisher of Pope's 'Essay on Criticism.'" At No. 20, as is well known, Charles Lamb with his sister had lodgings. Opposite Covent Garden Theatre, on the present site of the Bow Street Police Court, was "The Garrick's Head," where the notorious Judge and Jury Society met, presided over by Nicholson, the editor of The Town.
The theatre has been twice destroyed by fire—first in 1808, and again on March 5th, 1856, at 4.55 A.M., at the close of a bal masqué. It was the last dance, and the first intimation of danger was the falling of blazing timbers among the dancers. The present writer lived close by, and hastened to the scene. The streets presented an extraordinary sight, filled with men and women rushing panic-stricken, dressed in every imaginable variety of costume. A tremendous sight was the great crystal chandelier which fell with a tremendous crash.
Bow Street has been considerably altered since that time. The Police Court was then held in a building on the same side as the theatre, lower down towards Russell Street, while the police station was on the opposite side, and prisoners had to be conveyed handcuffed across the road to the court. Now there is a large building on the site of the old police station, and prisoners are lodged in cells under the court.
On proceeding down Bow Street, and crossing Russell Street into Wellington Street, the next turning on the left is York Street, Here, at the corner of Wellington Street, was the office of All the Year Round, and here Dickens in the rooms on the first floor would write and entertain his friends. Further along in York Street, on the same side, Bonn carried on his bookselling business, and lived there for many years with his family, his huge stock filling the buildings at the rear, as far as the back of The Athnæum office in Wellington Street, where John Francis published that paper from 1837, and in later years also 'N. & Q.,' until his death there in 1882. Mr. Jacobs states that De Quincey wrote his 'Confessions of an Opium-Eater' at 4, York Street. Bohn could point out a dent in the wall of his premises where the room had been in which the 'Confessions' were written. On Bonn's retiring the premises were occupied by Messrs. Bell & Daldy. Dickens had at first an office lower down Wellington Street, opposite the Lyceum Theatre, where he published Household Words. It was, as Mr. Jacobs says, "a picturesque building." On one memorable day in later years, its roof was visited by a swarm of bees from the Market. A queen bee flew to thfr roof, and was speedily followed by the entire swarm, watched by hundreds of people until they were enticed back into a hive placed for their reception. Opposite to The Athenæum office,. Reynolds the Chartist lived, and there published his newspaper and his other productions. From his balcony he would address his "dear friends" from Trafalgar Square, who were as unwelcome as the bees from Covent Garden. Another paper published in Wellington Street was The Tablet, while in York Street Mr. Godwin published the still flourishing Builder, now issued from Catherine Street. There was The Gardeners' Chronicle also, which has its home in Wellington Street, in the house where it was first published.
